There is no denying that a few big jobs make up a large part of my monthly freelance writing income. But guess what? I also believe that smaller jobs are every bit as important. Sure, I would love to work on high paying jobs only, who wouldn’t? But the reality of the freelance writing industry (at least for me) is that this is not always possible. For this reason, I always think twice before I turn down any small jobs that I am offered.
What does a small freelance writing job mean to me? First off, when I say “small†I mean small in the way of payment. But when you add three and four small jobs together, you end up with one big job. This is why taking on small jobs that will not consume a lot of your time is very important.
Take for instance one specific pet related project that I work on every morning. This project consists of one article per day of 300 words or so. For this, I receive $10/day. That may sound small on the surface, but by months end this has added up to $300; which is a nice sum to bump up my monthly total.
When I finally get to a point where my workload has become too much, I then start to cut back on the smallest of small jobs. But of course, I only do this when I am completely out of time. In the example above, it would be foolish for me to leave $300 on the table when it only takes me about 15 minutes a day to complete one of these articles.
I read a lot of blogs, and one thing that other freelance writers always touch on is that you should get paid a solid wage for your work. And while I agree with this, I think it is foolish to pass by a project just because you are not being offered $.20/word or more. This is especially true if you are new to freelance writing, and are simply trying to get in on the ground floor.
Simply put: do not always turn down the small jobs. Several of these could add up to more money than you ever imagined!
Related Link:Blog About Your Blog is all about quality. Quality posts, quality people, quality bloggers!
Imagine the potential success of your blog if you could churn out 25 or more blog posts per week. Most people, including myself, strive to post at least once per day. For me, the main reason that I do not post more is a lack of time. When my freelance writing workload is not taking up my entire day, I find it much easier to write more than one blog post.
If you are interested in increasing your article production there are many tips that you can follow. Through my years as a full-time freelance writer, I have found the following three tips to be most useful.
1. Set aside a block of time each day where you will do nothing but write. One of the main reasons for slow production is too many distractions. When you are writing blog posts you should be doing nothing else. This means no television, no radio, no checking email, and no checking traffic stats. If you can give yourself a couple hours of solid writing time each day, you will find out soon enough that you are producing more articles than you ever thought possible.
2. Not knowing what to write about can slow you down. To avoid this, keep a list of topics next to your computer at all times. Anytime that you think of a good blog post, write it down on your list. When it comes time to write, you can then choose a topic off and get started. This is much better than wasting time trying to come up with a topic that will suit your blog.
3. It is common sense that the faster you write the more articles you will produce. While you may struggle with fast thinking and typing at first, you will improve in both these areas as time goes by. Soon enough you will realize that you are writing at a faster pace, which will obviously give you more time to write each day.
These tips will definitely help you to increase your article production. But remember, you should never speed up if you think it is going to decrease the quality of your work. Even though it would be nice to post several articles to your blog each day, they all need to be of high quality.
All in all, your goal should be to produce as many articles as possible without compromising quality. With the three tips above, as well as plenty of practice, you will be well on your way to reaching this goal.
Related Link: Fellow freelance writer Michael Kwan blogs about writing, personal development, and much more.
Every month, with the exception of a few, my freelance writing income seems to build the same way. I always look at my income in three sections: the first, second, and third 10 days of the month.
For me, the first 10 days of the month is always the most profitable. In most cases, by the end of these 10 days I have earned anywhere from $2,500 to $3,000. This is due in large part to the fact that my checks and bank wires arrive during this period.
The second 10 days are always the slowest. This is when I am churning out work for clients, and is usually when I work the most hours. For the most part, these days usually net me somewhere around $1,000 or so.
Finally, the last 10 days is when I make my final push for as much money as I can. While not as much as the first segment of the month, I can usually draw in $1,500 to $2,500 during this period. As mentioned above, a lot of this has to do with the amount of work that I complete during the middle stages of the month. By the end of the month all those projects are complete, and payments begin to roll in. Subsequently, I do not work nearly as many hours as the month winds down.
Of course this can change, but over the past few months when I have been earning just about $5k, this tends to hold true. Personally, I love being able to rely on this sort of pattern. It helps me to chart my progress, while also knowing when certain payments are going to arrive.Â
